README.rdoc

TaskJuggler is a modern and powerful, Free and Open Source Software project
management tool. Its new approach to project planning and tracking is more
flexible and superior to the commonly used Gantt chart editing tools.

TaskJuggler is project management software for serious project managers. It
covers the complete spectrum of project management tasks from the first
idea to the completion of the project. It assists you during project
scoping, resource assignment, cost and revenue planning, risk management,
and communication management.

TaskJuggler provides an optimizing scheduler that computes your project
time lines and resource assignments based on the project outline and the
constraints that you have provided. The built-in resource balancer and
consistency checker will offload you from having to worry about irrelevant
details and it will ring the alarm if the project gets out of hand. The
flexible as-many-details-as-necessary approach allows you to plan your
project as you go, making it also ideal for new management strategies such
as Extreme Programming and Agile Project Management.

If you are about to build a skyscraper or just want to put together the
release schedule of your open source project, TaskJuggler is the right tool
for you. If you just want to draw nice looking Gantt charts to impress your
boss or your investors, TaskJuggler might not be right for you. You can of
course create nice looking Gantt charts. But it takes a little more effort
to master its power. If you are up for this, TaskJuggler will become a
companion that you don't want to miss anymore.

TaskJuggler is written in Ruby
and should be easily installable and usable on all popular operating
systems. It may sound surprising at first, but this software does not need
a graphical user interface. A command shell, a plain text editor (no word
processor!), and a web browser is all you need for your work.

Features and Highlights

Basic Properties

Manages tasks, resources and accounts of your project

Powerful to-do list management

Detailed reference manual

Simple installation

Runs on all Linux, Unix, Windows, MacOS and several other operating systems

Full integration with Vim text editor

Advanced Scheduling

Automatic resource leveling and tasks conflict resolution

Unlimited number of scenarios (baselines) of the same project for what-if
analysis

Flexible working hours and leave management

Support for shift working

Multiple time zone support

Accounting

Tasks may have initial costs, finishing costs

Resources may have usage based costs

Task and/or resource base cost models

Support for profit/loss analysis

Reporting

Comprehensive and flexible reports so you can find the information you need
when you need it

Powerful filtering functions to provide the right amount of detail to the
right audience

Time and status sheet reporting infrastructure

Project tracking and status reporting with dashboard support

Scaling and Enterprise Features

Projects can be combined into larger projects

Support for central resource allocation database

Manages roles and complex reporting lines

Powerful project description language with macro support

Scales well on multi-core or multi-CPU systems

Support for project management teams and revision control systems

Data export to Microsoft Project and Computer Associates Clarity

Web Publishing and Groupware Functions

HTML reports for web publishing

CSV data export for exchange with popular office software

iCalendar export for data exchange with calendar and productivity
applications

Getting Help and reporting Bugs

There are several mailing list for TaskJuggler users and developers. Please
see this page for
details. If you have a question about TaskJuggler usage, the user list is
the best place to go. Please subscribe to the mailing list and help other
users when you get more proficient in TaskJuggler.

Copyright and License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of version 2 of
the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation. You accept the terms of this license by distributing or using
this software.